Shoulder Strain Makes Ellsbury Unsure About Tuesday; Drew Set To Return

Jacoby Ellsbury left Sunday's game after the fifth inning with a right shoulder strain and is unsure whether he'll be able to play on Tuesday against the Yankees.

I banged it up a little bit on the slide [into second base in the third inning] and tried to play through it. Then [I] had that catch in the outfield, landed on my right shoulder, and I think I made it even worse from that. But I iced it up, and it's not feeling too good right now, but we have the off-day [Monday].

J.D. Drew received a cortisone shot in his left shoulder after Friday night's game. He sat out the two weekend games, but says "I completely expect to be right back in the lineup" on Tuesday night. Drew said he has pain in the collarbone area that worked its way down his left arm:

I've felt it a little bit maybe off and on in Spring Training. I've had it throughout my career. It usually just goes away but this one kind of lingered and over about the last two-and-a-half, three weeks, it'd gotten pretty severe.

Kevin Youkilis was hit by an inside fastball in the third inning, but home plate umpire Tim Timmons ruled that Yook had jabbed his left elbow at it, called the pitch a ball and had him remain at the plate. Yook walked on the next pitch.

Being plunked does not automatically entitle a batter to first base. The rulebook states that a batter must make an attempt to avoid being hit -- and that is left to the umpire's discretion. Much to my annoyance, this rule is almost never enforced. But Yook's ploy was pretty blatant. Do umpires make a distinction between simply standing in the way of a pitch (which is absolutely against the rules, but usually tolerated) and actually moving into the path of the pitch?

John Farrell, on Jon Lester's complete game on Saturday:

His ability not only to change speeds, but also because the cutter will bore in on right-handed hitters and the changeup has fade, he's able to spread the plate even more than the 17 inches it is. That's not even to mention the separation of velocity. It lets his fastball have a little more margin for error around the plate or in the strike zone. ...

As long as he remains healthy and doesn't get overworked, he's the type of pitcher that has dominating stuff every time he walks to the mound. If there's more to it than the last couple of games, then we're in for a real treat to watch.

Match-ups for the Yankees series:

Tuesday: A.J. Burnett / Josh Beckett
Wednesday: Chien-Ming Wang / Tim Wakefield
Thursday: CC Sabathia / Brad Penny